Note: this is part 3 of 3 in my series of how the new administration may impact environmental law and policy in the Pacific Northwest. For background, please see Part 1 and Part 2. Sediment Cleanup Sites Things are moving quickly with the new administration. Since publishing Part 1 of this series on Monday, the… Continue Reading

On Friday morning, I boarded a plane in Chicago and by the time I touched down in Seattle, Trump had been sworn into office. We’ve received a number of questions from clients and friends asking us how the regime change will impact environmental law and policy in the Pacific Northwest. The quick answer is one… Continue Reading

In 2013, the Washington Legislature passed SSB 5296, which amended the Model Toxics Control Act in a number of ways. One of those amendments directed Ecology to adopt “model remedies,” defined as “a set of technologies, procedures, and monitoring protocols identified by [Ecology] for use in routine types of clean-up projects at facilities that have… Continue Reading

A lot has already been written and said about yesterday’s 7-2 decision in the U.S. Supreme Court in CTS v. Waldburger case, in which the Court held that statutes of repose (as opposed to statutes of limitations) are not preempted by CERCLA and operate, as North Carolina’s did there, to bar state law claims for contamination…. Continue Reading

EPA Region 10 released this press release on Monday, summarizing four recent enforcement actions it has taken under the Clean Water Act. There are some commonalities and differences between the four actions that I think are illustrative of Region 10’s enforcement priorities. First, all four of the entities (Ash Grove Cement Company, Waste Management of… Continue Reading

Erik Smith over at the Washington State Wire just published a great piece on how the fish consumption issue is hanging up budget negotiations in Olympia. This piece, along with Robert McClure’s piece of investigative journalism from a couple months back frame nicely the political component of the fish consumption issue. The current sticking point… Continue Reading

Hot off the presses (or even not off the presses considering it was posted the day before the date on the document), the Proposed Plan for the Duwamish River Superfund Site is now available on EPA’s website. I’ll provide a more complete analysis once I’ve reviewed, but it looks like EPA has gone with what… Continue Reading

Most people familiar with state cleanup laws or the federal counterpart, CERCLA, are familiar with four general classes of liable parties: 1) Owners or operators of contaminated facilities; 2) Past owners or operators of facilities at the time of release or disposal of hazardous substances; 3) Parties that arranged for disposal of hazardous substances at… Continue Reading

A one-two punch in terms of the Duwamish Superfund site: First, late Halloween night, the Lower Duwamish Waterway Group posted the Final Feasibility Study for the Lower Duwamish. The entire document is available on LDWG’s site. This past Tuesday, EPA and Ecology had a public meeting where they outlined the changes between the draft feasibility… Continue Reading

Last week, the Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment and other environmental groups filed a complaint with EPA’s Office of Civil Rights alleging that California’s cap and trade program is discriminatory because it allows for the purchase of emission credits, essentially allowing emitters of greenhouse gases to avoid emission reductions in low-income areas. The… Continue Reading

Many businesses located in or near Superfund sites eventually will receive a Section 104(e) Information Request from EPA. This is particularly true at large aquatic sites such as the Portland Harbor Superfund Site in Oregon, the Lower Duwamish Superfund Site in Seattle, the Fox River in Wisconsin and other sites involving industrial corridors adjacent to… Continue Reading

Yesterday, EPA released the final draft of the Remedial Investigation (“RI”) for the Lower Duwamish Waterway Superfund Site. The complete text is available here. The Duwamish Superfund Site consists of the lower five miles of the Duwamish River, which empties near the Seattle waterfront. EPA listed this site in 2000 in response to contamination concerns,… Continue Reading

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Our thoughts on current events in environmental law, science, and policy from the Pacific Northwest. Topics will touch on issues such as climate change, policy decisions made by agencies, regulatory reform and changes, and how these items affect the way business is done in the Northwest. And some interesting science-geeky stuff.

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